Exercise caution in campus travels
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Gabrielle Moore
If you’ve seen me on campus, attempting to walk around on crutches, I know what you want to ask. I’ll go ahead and give you the answer to save you the trouble: I got hit by a car.
I understand that you, as Americans, have been raised to be fascinated by unusual things and injuries, and that a girl walking around campus on crutches satisfies both of those fascinations.
But really, I’ve probably heard “Wow, what did you do?” about 20 times a day since I got injured. As if it weren’t inconvenient enough having to get around campus on crutches, I have to explain to a couple dozen people daily what happened to my knee and suffer the judgmental stares of everyone who isn’t bold enough to ask me.
Of course, by now, I usually know how you’re going to react when I tell you what happened. “What the (insert expletive here)?” you’ll say. That’s to be expected, because really, getting hit by a car is one of the more exciting and somewhat shocking ways to injure yourself.
Then, of course, you’ll want to know what it was like to get hit by a car.
It was somewhat scary — but mostly, it was just a shock. I got hit on my bike, not too hard, but hard enough to cause some serious damage to my knee. I didn’t feel it at first and I didn’t know what to do, so I just told the lady who hit me that I was fine and she should go.
For future reference: If you ever get hit by a car, at least get a phone number from the person driving the car.
And that reaction to the news of my injury is only natural. But it’s what you’ll say after that initial reaction that worries me. Because after you swear in shock and ask me what it was like, you’ll mention that your roommate/best friend/boyfriend/girlfriend/acquaintance/someone on campus also got hit by a car, or knows someone who got hit by a car.
Campus is becoming a dangerous place to be a pedestrian.
Too often, I hear a story or see a police brief in the paper about someone getting hit by a car on campus. Back at home, I think I only ever heard of fewer than a dozen people getting hit by a car in the 18 years I lived there.
And though it might be assumed, it’s not just college students driving drunk either. In fact, it’s not just college students at all.
There are plenty of average East Lansing moms and dads running into pedestrians as well. When it comes down to it — while students might be taking risks by running or biking across crosswalks when they shouldn’t — drivers are responsible for not running into people.
It comes down to common sense and paying attention. We’re in an age of technology. But when someone is driving, talking on the phone and listening to music, while thousands of college students are milling around campus and crossing the streets they’re driving on — it greatly increases the chance that a driver is going to hit someone. Accidents do happen sometimes, no matter what you do, but when there are this many happening, it points to something more than true accidents.
Although pedestrians aren’t technically responsible for an accident, they still should be watching out for their own lives. Trust me, getting hit by a car is not fun. It’s inconvenient to get around campus with any sort of injury, and it is not worth getting across the street 30 seconds sooner.
If you told me you always look both ways before crossing the street and you never cross when the walking sign is a red hand, I would say you’re lying. I’ll admit I’m not a patient person, and I don’t like to wait to cross the street, especially if I’m on my way to class or work. But in reality, taking an extra second to look down the road might have prevented my accident.
Taking extra precautions before crossing the street is especially important at night, when more drunken drivers are out and it’s harder to see people walking or biking. Bikers should invest in bike lights, and walkers should stay in well-lit areas. Really, taking the bus or a cab to travel long distances at night is probably a better idea than walking or biking when it comes to your general safety.
Driving on campus can be a more dangerous situation than the average road, so extra attention and precaution is necessary on the part of both the pedestrians and drivers.
Just be careful, and please, stop asking what happened to my leg.
Gabrielle Moore is a State News staff photographer. Reach her at mooregab@msu.edu.
Commentary
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Steve
(10/28/08 9:57pm)Report
Actually I do look both ways EVERY time I cross the street. There are thousands of jackasses on campus the blindly cross the street assuming that the drivers will see them since they have the right-of-way. Attention anyone who does that: You are a moron. How do you know that person is not intoxicated, changing radio stations, or talking on the phone? It doesn’t matter who’s fault it is, or what their excuse is, the pedestrian crossing the road will always be on the losing end. Do you want to end up injured or paralyzed in the name of proving you had the right-of-way? I had a friend who’s car was totaled out at 10am on a Tuesday when a drunk driver ran a redlight. Don’t be an idiot, use your head and think defensively.
Kristin
(10/28/08 11:33pm)Report
And please, quit crossing the street in between crosswalks. Quit walking out from between parked cars when you are cutting through parking lots. And quit talking on your cell phone while you are negotiating the traffic circles. Just like drivers shouldn’t be talking on the phone while driving on campus and dodging pedestrians, pedestrians shouldn’t be on the phone while they are dodging cars.
PT
(10/29/08 2:05am)Report
Judgmental stares? I didn’t realize people received judgmental stares for simply having a knee injury & hobbling around on crutches. Maybe those stares are more inquisitive than judgmental. Anyways…I have nothing else to add other than I can’t even count the times I’ve almost hit some idiot student because they weren’t paying attention to where they were going, or they weren’t paying attention to the fact that the crosswalk said DON’T WALK (or DON’T RIDE YOUR BIKE THROUGH THIS INTERSECTION RIGHT NOW) or because they just felt like moseying out into the middle of the street without paying attention to their surroundings. I’m just thankful that I was the one paying attention & didn’t blast them and have them end up injured like Gabrielle…Although maybe it would have taught them that just because pedestrians have the right of way doesn’t mean that they can wander out into Grand River whenever they feel like it
J. Edward Tremlett
(10/29/08 8:25am)Report
“Campus is becoming a dangerous place to be a pedestrian.”
Pedestrians have the right of way, yes, but they also have to be willing to let cars have their turn to turn. They also need to be more aware of their surroundings, and less confident that some magic “right of way” shield will stop the car they’ve just walked in front of, ever so obliviously.
It’s kind of a ‘two way street’ thing, you know?
Concerned Christian
(10/29/08 10:09am)Report
A similar situation happened to me just yesterday. I was driving to a local grocery store and I had just driven through a stop light. There were some young people trying to cross the road ahead of me and I had to stop short and let them cross the street. I wonder what would have happened if I had not been alert to what was going on. I don’t blame the young people for crossing, but pedestrians do need to exercise caution when crossing the street.
Bill
(10/29/08 12:54pm)Report
“Although pedestrians aren’t technically responsible for an accident, they still should be watching out for their own lives.”
Not true. Pedestrians do not ALWAYS have the right of way. Pedestrians ONLY have the right of way when the sign says “WALK” or is blinking “DON’T WALK” and at crosswalks without signs or lights. Otherwise, vehicles have the right of way.
BBSmith
(10/29/08 12:57pm)Report
If the sign says (solidly) “DON’T WALK” or has a red hand, then PEDESTRIANS DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY.
If a pedestrian is crossing where there is not a crosswalk, THAT PEDESTRIAN DOES NOT HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY.
MSUAlum02
(10/29/08 2:31pm)Report
“Although pedestrians aren’t technically responsible for an accident, they still should be watching out for their own lives.”
Actually, pedestrians can be responsible for an accident. I was walking with some friends along Grand River. The sign to cross Collingwood said don’t walk, but there were no cars in sight so we pressed on. After we were in the intersection a car pulled out of the parking lot by Jimmy Johns and sped up to make the light, not seeing my friend who was about 10 steps ahead of me. He hit her and she went flying into the intersection. People called 911 and when the police came they gave her a ticket for jaywalking while the driver of the car did not get any sort of punishment. The officer said in no uncertain terms that he did not like that he had to give the ticket to her and would probably be busy when she appealed it. Needless to say, if the officer would have shown up when she appealed, she probably would have had to pay a fine despite the fact that she was hit.
Jack
(10/29/08 2:38pm)Report
Please don’t walk out in front of my car and then look pissed off at me because you were crossing on a red and I honk at you. You deserve it and it’s been a near thing a couple of times.
Thank you to the author of this column for stating that she could have taken steps to prevent her accident – too many people on campus blame the car for everything when, quite often, it’s the fault of pedestrians or the combined fault of both parties.
common sense
(10/29/08 4:02pm)Report
First you whine about people “who isn’t bold enough to ask me.” Then you whine about people asking you. WTF? You were probably indecisive crossing the street too huh?
msualum2000
(10/29/08 4:52pm)Report
The opening to this article is one of the most condescending pieces of work I have read in a long time. What an insult this is to anybody that has a physical disability or uses some type of assistive device to get around. I require the use of a wheelchair on an every day basis. Of course I get people looking at me every now and then. Boo hoo, you’re on crutches. Just be thankful you’ll be off them in 4-6 weeks and can go riding your bike darting out in front of traffic again when a sign is telling you to DON’T WALK!!! I’m sorry life on crutches is so inconvenient for you right now. Try spending just one day in a wheelchair and you’ll found out the meaning of inconvenient. No cheating either, like when you go into a public restroom, no standing up and walking into a stall that has a door too narrow for your chair to fit through. Need more examples, I can go on for pages.
Grad Student
(10/29/08 7:11pm)Report
“They also need to be more aware of their surroundings, and less confident that some magic “right of way” shield will stop the car they’ve just walked in front of, ever so obliviously.”
Exactly! Besides right of way only goes so far as some have pointed out, after all you can get ticketing for jaywalking. Of course these things not to mention physics seem to escape many students. I can not tel you how many times I have almost killed some stupid college kid because they seem to think a full sized truck can stop on a dime in the dead of winter on a snow covered road here at MSU or back at Michigan Tech. How is it to grasp the concepts of momentum, mass and friction such as they apply to blindly walking out into traffic?